The Boy, the Beast and the Instincts
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: The first ever cross between Evangelion and KI, and I'm the first one to write it down. Just examine it for what it is right now and review or PM me on what you think will happen when I get back to it later. Peace! Now includes an omake!
1. The Boy, the Beast and the Instincts

Creation began on 11-07-14

Creation ended on 11-07-14

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Boy, the Beast and the Instincts

N/A: It's mine, and that's the way it's gotta be. It can't be a standalone story if I do it this way, so it has its inspiration from the popular _KI_ franchise.

"…Aaaaaahhh!" Shinji screamed, cornered in the abandoned building by the creature that was in front of him. "Please… Please!"

The creature looked like it belonged in the time of the dinosaurs, but it found its way here in this time. It was larger than Shinji's fourteen-year-old body, with the build of a velociraptor of sorts, but the arms were slightly larger and more like a human's (and judging by the sight of the scratched, dinged and broken manacles on its wrists, Shinji could only assume that this creature had been part of an earlier attempt at domestication, but nothing went right). Brownish-orange scale coloring with tiger-like stripes along its head and back, down to its tail, with its underbelly being a pale pink tone. But what frightened Shinji the most were its eyes; they were like a reptile's but the way they locked onto Shinji's eyes were like that of a human's buried under loneliness and confusion.

Shinji had been chased by several teenagers that wanted to beat the life out of him and he ran into an old office building that had been the Japanese branch of a global corporation called Ultratech. All he ever heard of the old company was that they were pioneers in science fields such as genetics and cybernetics, hoping to revolutionize the medical and military worlds in existence. But the Second Impact destroyed any chances of these revolutionary possibilities from happening, and the corporation fell into disarray and foreclosed all global branches. So it was only natural assumptions that when the people behind Ultratech left, much of their work and research files were likely left behind.

"…I think he came this way," Shinji heard of the boys looking for him. "Let's get him."

Right now, Shinji was wondering what was the worst fate he could experience right now: Beaten to a pulp…or eaten alive by a dinosaur-like monster?

The creature approached him closer…and sniffed him on his neck…and then licked him on his face.

"Ugh," he groaned, wondering if this creature thought he was good enough to eat now.

"Oh, my God!" One of the teens looking for him gasped, seeing Shinji being licked by a monster.

When seven more boys joined him, the creature looked at them…and then snarled as it looked at the boys that came into the large room.

"Uh-oh!" They all went as the creature charged toward them and slashed at their arms and tail-whipped their legs.

As they were being tossed around by the creature, Shinji took this opportunity to escape.

To be continued…

A/N: This is the start of the story. I just needed to get it down. Any who have seen _KI_ can probably guess who the creature is.


	2. The Beast follows the Boy

Creation began on 01-05-15

Creation ended on 01-06-15

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Beast follows the Boy

A/N: This is no boy with a dog, but what could be better than such an animal?

It wasn't that nobody wanted to believe him when he got back that a monster had attacked the teenagers that bullied him, but that nobody wanted to hear about what he saw because he had to pack and get ready to go to Tokyo-3 because of a letter he had gotten from his father, whose letter seemed more like a demand than a request. So Shinji was unable to explain that a monster had, quite possibly, mutilated a bunch of teens in an abandoned building once owned by Ultratech. All he could do was wonder about that creature he encountered in the building where he thought he could lose his tormentors…and why it didn't try to hurt him just yet.

-x-

In the silence of the night, it ran away from the building it was bred in, leaving the people that dared to come between it and the boy that stumbled onto it. There was a moment, a really close moment, where it wanted to devour them, having not eaten in several days, but something in its mind instructed it not to, so it left them beaten to a pulp, but alive so that they could get away when they came to. It found a nearby place that had a supply of food and fed until it was full. After which, it took on a task that came to mind, which was to find the boy it had met; there was something about the way he smelled that attracted it.

The boy was last seen by it inside some building that it wasn't sure it could get into without being seen, so it waited in the sewers beneath the streets until it could track the boy alone. Unfortunately, such a task seemed to escalate into a struggle, for the boy had left somewhere in a hurry. Luckily, though, this was a creature that had been bred for both strength and speed, so it could move at speeds comparable to what something it had once heard was an automobile. And in addition to its enhanced body, its senses were much better than any human's so it could track the boy's scent, no matter how degraded it could've been or how far he had gotten.

-x-

"…And this woman's supposed to be picking me up?" Shinji questioned, looking at the embarrassing picture of this Misato Katsuragi, whose posing made her look more like model than an employee at his father's agency, and clearly looking to elicit admiration from people on Shinji's side of the fence.

He had arrived in Tokyo-2, but there were no trains able to make the journey to Tokyo-3, and Tokyo-2 seemed completely desolate. Not a single person besides him was out and about. He was starting to wonder if it was even a good idea to even be here. It wasn't like he and his father truly got along; there was nothing between them that constituted a meaningful relationship between father and son if the father spent absolutely no time trying to build one with his child.

"Grrr," he heard a noise, like an animal sound, and looked around.

"Hmm…" He looked, and saw something that he had hoped was just something he wouldn't see again. "Oh, no."

-x-

It had found him. It had finally found him. He was alone, like before when they met for the first time, and it approached him. His scent was the same, but heightened to indicate that he was afraid of it.

If only it had an urge to harm the boy.

The boy backed away, against a wall, unable to get away.

It stopped in front of him, sniffed him, and then licked his face again. Then…it backed away and crouched down in front of him.

-x-

Shinji thought he was going to die, right then and there. This was the same creature that he encountered the day before, having traveled miles from the abandoned building to here. He suspected that there was something about him that sparked the creature's interests…or maybe it was just hunting down any that have seen it, eliminating any potential witnesses to its existence. But as he waited for it to end his life, he wondered why the dinosaur-like monster hadn't made an attempt to bite his head, claw his organs out, slash his face, or anything to inflict a gruesome or painful or painless death.

Then, the creature rose back up to its impressive height of five feet, and raised its right claw up.

"Oh!" Shinji expressed, closing his eyes.

Pat, pat, pat. He felt the claw on his head, but the talons never touched his skin or eyes. Pat, pat, pat.

Opening his eyes, he realized what was going on; he never anticipated to expect a monster to go and pat him on his head. Then, he saw the right claw in front of him, just below his waist, straightened out, just like a human hand. He looked up at the creature's head, seeing what had to an expression of expectation, which was unusual.

"Grr," it growled again, softly hitting his right hand.

Shinji raised his hand up…and put it in the creature's…which then closed around it and moved up and down, like how people did when they…

_It shook my hand,_ he thought, and then received another unusual surprise as the creature closed in on him and entrapped him in a bear hug! _Oh, my God!_

"Grr…grrr…grrree…grrf…frrrree…grrrin…friend," he heard it say, almost like a struggling male pretending to be a female…or a struggling female pretending to be a male. "Friend."

"Friend?" Shinji responded, and realized something else that was unusual: This creature spoke…and called him a friend. "Friend."

To be continued…

* * *

Omake (first one ever!)

Shinji thought he was going to die, right then and there. This was the same creature that he encountered the day before, having traveled miles from the abandoned building to here. He suspected that there was something about him that sparked the creature's interests…or maybe it was just hunting down any that have seen it, eliminating any potential witnesses to its existence. But as he waited for it to end his life, he wondered why the dinosaur-like monster hadn't made an attempt to bite his head, claw his organs out, slash his face, or anything to inflict a gruesome or painful or painless death.

Then, the creature rose back up to its impressive height of five feet, and raised its right claw up.

"Oh!" Shinji expressed, closing his eyes.

Pat, pat, pat. He felt the claw on his head, but the talons never touched his skin or eyes. Pat, pat, pat.

Opening his eyes, he realized what was going on; he never anticipated to expect a monster to go and pat him on his head. Then, he saw the right claw in front of him, just below his waist, straightened out, just like a human hand. He looked up at the creature's head, seeing what had to an expression of expectation, which was unusual.

"Grr," it growled again, softly hitting his right hand.

Shinji raised his hand up…and put it in the creature's…which then closed around it and moved up and down, like how people did when they…

_It shook my hand,_ he thought, and then received another unusual surprise as the creature closed in on him and entrapped him in a bear hug! _Oh, my God!_

"Grr…grrr…grrree…grrf…frrrree…grrowl…lover," he heard it say, almost like a struggling male pretending to be a female…or a struggling female pretending to be a male. "Lover."

"Lover?" Shinji gasped, and realized something else that was unusual: This creature spoke…and had just wrapped its tail around him. "Oh, no."

A/N: Here's the new chapter for the time being. I believe I'll make Riptor neutral, gender-wise. I recently discovered that, while in the game, Riptor is classified as a female, this incarnation of Riptor, which comes from the original game for the SNES, will be hermaphroditic, both male and female, but it will be based on the levels of estrogen (female) and testosterone (male) it has, because I want Riptor to be a little more unstable that it was said to be psychologically due to its genetic nature.


	3. The Beast becomes a Protector

Creation began on 01-10-15

Creation ended on 11-07-15

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Beast becomes a Protector

When the Angel arrived into the city, Shinji and the dinosaur-like creature (which he had to assume was called Riptor, due to some scratched-up information engraved upon the broken manacles on its wrists that read _"Project Riptor"_) ran down the streets.

"Whoa!" Shinji gasped, just as Riptor lifted him up and onto his back, running faster than he ever could on his own feet.

Suddenly, a blue car stopped in front of them, revealing a purple-haired woman.

"Aaah!" The woman gasped, and pulled out a gun, aiming it at the dinosaur-like creature.

"Wait! Don't!" Shinji yelled at her.

She looked up at the boy, recognizing him from his picture in the file, but found it hard to believe that he was atop a creature that seemed impossible to create.

BOOM! The Angel had destroyed three of the aircraft that were attacking it, and advanced further into the city.

The woman gave in and got back in her car.

"Follow me!" She told them, having to take a leap of faith that the creature was able to understand at least that much.

As the car drove off, Riptor pursued it, keeping up at an impressive pace that even the woman couldn't believe it was capable of.

-x-

It wasn't a short while ago that much of Tokyo-2 was destroyed in an N² Mine in an attempt to destroy the Angel, but all that did was slow it down, forcing it to regenerate and adapt to what was done to its body.

"Are you sure your agency can handle this mess, Ikari?" A military official asked a man with orange-tinted glasses.

"This is what NERV was meant for," he answered him.

"What exactly do you intend to do, Ikari?" An elderly man in his fifties asked him.

"I intend to activate Unit-01."

"But we have no pilot."

"No need to worry. Another spare is on the way."

-x-

Misato, as she had introduced herself to Shinji a while before arriving into Tokyo-3, couldn't stop feeling terrified of the creature that Shinji was riding atop of behind her car as they entered the Geo-Front to NERV HQ. She found it crazy that he would actually be on one and not view it as a dangerous animal or something hostile like the Angel was at the moment. And, judging from the periodic glimpses she took of the creature, she suspected that somebody from a long time ago had tried to tame it, but failed.

_They probably became this thing's meal,_ she thought, and they reached the bottom of the express linear elevator to reach NERV HQ.

Shinji got off Riptor's back and quietly followed Misato into the building.

Unfortunately, Riptor followed them. Or more accurately, Riptor followed Shinji.

"So, um…how did you two meet?" Misato asked Shinji, trying to strike up a conversation with the boy.

"You wouldn't believe me, even if I told you," he responded, looking at Riptor, who looked back at him with an almost-human expression on its reptilian face.

"Friend," it growled again, and patted Shinji on his head.

Misato was now extremely surprised! It wasn't every day that you heard a reptile the size of a man say something that it shouldn't have said. Or do something that was out of character for an animal.

"Friend," she heard Shinji say back to it.

-x-

"Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, we have a problem!" One of the male technicians gasped, looking on the monitor in front of him and seeing Captain Katsuragi and the boy she was to bring into the base, along with an extra guest that was clearly not human. "Captain Katsuragi has returned with someone and some thing."

"What do you mean?" Fuyutsuki, the elderly man, asked him.

"Some sort of dinosaur is with them."

Everyone looked up at the monitors and saw what the man was talking about.

"Good God," some of the women gasped.

"Send down security," Fuyutsuki ordered.

-x-

Misato soon stopped and turned to face Shinji.

"Okay, this is insane," she told him, taking out her gun and aiming it at Riptor. "This thing can't be safe to be around."

"No," Shinji told her, getting in between her and the beast. "You can't do this, Misato. It hasn't done anything to you."

"Grr," Riptor growled, glaring at Misato.

"Shinji, it's dangerous," she tried to defend her actions.

"You wouldn't think it dangerous if it saved you from being beaten into a pulp by some bullies at school," he told her. "Plus, you're the one holding a gun, so that makes you the dangerous one right now. Put it away."

"Not with that thing looking like it's going to eat somebody."

Riptor slowly brought its claws up…and placed them on Shinji's shoulders.

"Oh, this is awkward," Shinji expressed.

But Riptor moved its head towards Misato's gun, in a manner that was similar to…

"My God," Shinji and Misato looked and saw a woman with faux-blond hair and a white, lab coat.

She was followed by men in security uniforms and armed with rifles.

Riptor growled harder, and Shinji realized how severe this could get if any of them pulled their triggers.

"Lower your guns! All of you!" He shouted at them.

"Shinji, step away from it," Misato told him.

"Lower your guns now!" He told them again.

Despite the potential danger that was present in the hall, Misato saw that Riptor's arms never made any attempt to harm Shinji, even though she thought it could rip him to shreds.

"Puuuut…yoour…guuuuuns…doooown," they all heard Riptor say to them.

"You heard," Shinji expressed, feeling that he should complain about Riptor's arms on his shoulders. "Um, could you let go of my shoulders, please?"

Riptor looked at him…and released his shoulders.

"Sorry," it apologized.

Misato then lowered her gun. She couldn't shoot it, not without hitting Shinji, who wasn't giving her an opening to do so.

-x-

Fuyutsuki found this hard to comprehend, but the boy that was brought to NERV HQ wasn't letting Captain Katsuragi or the security guards take down the creature that was with him. It appeared as though the boy was protecting it, like he was fond of it.

-x-

"No offense, Shinji," went Misato, as she and the rest of the people that were present in the hall were escorting him to meet his father, "but you're treating that…that creature like a…a pet."

"If I knew if it was a boy or girl, I'd be able to treat it better," Shinji expressed. "I'd seek help to figure that mystery out, but I don't think anyone here would be interested in helping me do that as they seem more interested in trying to hurt it."

Riptor then stopped walking and raised its left leg up…and answered the call of nature.

"Aw, come on!" One of the guards groaned at the sight of the beast urinating on the wall.

When Riptor was done, it resumed walking and stayed close to Shinji.

"You can test that, right?" Shinji asked Misato.

"You'd have to ask Ritsuko," she told him.

"I'm not going anywhere near that thing unless it's sedated," Ritsuko defended.

They reached their destination and entered a dark room. When the lights came on, they were met with a giant, purple face!

"Whoa!" Shinji gasped, and Riptor, probably feeling intimidated, extended its claws.

"Grr!" It growled, getting in front of Shinji and staring at the behemoth.

"What is that thing doing in here?!" They heard a man's voice over the intercom, and Shinji looked up towards a glass screen behind the purple head, seeing a man he hadn't seen in years.

"Father," he uttered, and Riptor could hear the suppressed feeling of malice in his voice; whoever this "Father" person was, Shinji didn't like him very much, so Riptor wouldn't like him, either.

-x-

Within the room above Unit-01, Gendo had thought something like this wasn't possible. Yet, here it was, beside the Third Child, looking at him with an animalistic fury that seemed to be just as common in humans. It looked like a dinosaur, but with a degree of human intelligence.

"Kill it," he ordered the guards present, but none of them dared to raise their guns up.

"We can't, sir," Misato expressed. "Your son's against it."

"Then move him aside."

"Grr," Riptor growled, looking at Misato, Ritsuko and the guards.

"Aw, screw this!" One of the guards yelled out, throwing his gun to the ground. "I'm not getting killed for trying to come between a boy and his pet dinosaur."

But before he could leave the cage, he saw Riptor do something that would creep him out for a long time: The beast raised its left claw up…and waved at him.

"Ugh!" He shuddered and ran out of there.

To be continued…

A/N: StraightedgeWingZero brought this up, and I needed to finish this chapter and move on to the next one. I do hope this will curb people's hunger until the next chapter.


	4. The Beast watches over the Boy

Creation began on 11-07-15

Creation ended on 11-09-15

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Beast watches over the Boy

It was creepy. It was all anyone could think or say whenever they saw Riptor in the same room with Shinji as he recovered from the battle with the Third Angel. Creepy because of the way it watched over him, and creepy because of the way it looked at others that might've tried something. The creature even laid on the floor across the room from his bed, and it scared the Hell out of the doctors and nurses.

But what really disturbed them was that the boy would probably be waiting to see it when he woke up. They found out how the Third Child, before he even agreed to fight to the Angel, didn't want any of the NERV personnel trying to hurt it. They thought the boy was insane, but it was even crazier that the creature could speak coherently, which should've been impossible for it…when it wanted to, that is.

GASP! It heard Shinji as he woke up, drenched in sweat, and raised its own head up to look at him.

Shinji, having escaped his nightmarish hallucination of a grotesque creature that looked like an Eva without armor chasing him, looked in front of him and saw Riptor.

"You're still here," he sighed.

Riptor then got up and slowly approached him, moving a chair out of its way…just to pat Shinji on his head like before.

"Eh-heh," Shinji chuckled; this had to be its way of showing affection. "Thank you."

-x-

"…Is this even possible, Ikari?" One of the five men bathed in red light in the meeting questioned him. "This animal can't possibly be one of theirs."

"We checked the records we could salvage from the aftermath of Second Impact," went Gendo to them, "and it's likely that this creature is from the Ultratech corporation."

"Ultratech?" A man bathed in green light questioned. "That company that tried to revolutionize the medical and military powers of the world? They became nothing more than ancient history after Second Impact."

"Yet, this could only show that their research, or rather, the results of their research, didn't follow the corporation to the grave," a man in blue light uttered. "Just how many experiments were they running before they were put out of business?"

"They were running over twenty different projects," Gendo explained. "I believe this…creature that the Third Child has become attached to is a remnant of Project Riptor, a experiment that dealt with creating reptilian assassins with human intelligence."

"Project Riptor?" The man in white light, Kiel Lorenz, uttered. "Of all their experiments, that one may have been the most unstable because it dealt with creating creatures that were unpredictable."

"And yet, one of these creatures has ended up as your son's pet?" The man in yellow light asked.

Gendo didn't say anything about that; just the mere thought of the creature with the Third Child was disturbing enough to him.

-x-

"…I can't imagine how he can stand being in the same room as that thing," a female nurse muttered to a male nurse outside Shinji's room as he redressed in his casual clothing.

"I can't understand why that thing hasn't tried to eat him yet," the male nurse responded.

In the room, Shinji had finished putting on his shoes, with Riptor being ever watchful over him. It was when they both stepped out of the room that the constant whispers and murmurs ceased from the medical personnel. Shinji could see that they were afraid of the beast, something he could understand, since he had been afraid of it, as well. But only for a little while.

"Uh, hey, there, Shinji," went Misato, there to greet the boy, but her hesitation to get any closer to him because of the beast was something the boy noticed.

Shinji looked at Riptor, and Riptor looked back at him, and then at Misato…before moving away to a row of chairs and sat on the floor beside them.

"How can you stand to be around it that and not be afraid that it's gonna eat you or something?" Misato asked him.

"She," Shinji sighed.

"Huh?"

"She. 'She' as in female…as far as I can tell. Not 'it'."

"She?" Misato looked at the beast, and couldn't see anything about it that indicated it was of the life-bearing sex. "Okay, well, you don't know what the Hell she's thinking, if she even thinks at all…or even what the Hell she is."

Shinji frowned at her and expressed, "She's probably the only friend I'll ever have in this life, Ms. Katsuragi. If it's between any of you and her…then I'll take my chances with her until God-knows-when something else happens."

She looked at him and then at the she-beast, which was looking at them with a rather blank expression on its reptilian face. She considered Shinji being a fool right now for thinking he could be fine in the presence of a rogue animal that just couldn't be part of the world without people from long ago making it the way it was.

"You're crazy," she called him.

"Maybe I am," he didn't fault her, "but I've been patted on my head five times by her, and it's not something I find crazy."

-x-

"Doctor Akagi wasn't happy when she had to test the urine sample left by that creature that left with the Third Child," Makoto Hyuga explained to Misato in Central Dogma. "But it did reveal something that makes what he said to you accurate."

"Which is?" Misato asked him.

"That thing's definitely more female than male at the moment."

"Huh?"

-x-

The walk in the park was quite soothing at the moment for the boy and the beast. The warm sunlight and the cool breeze. And the lake they were walking beside seemed tranquil.

Riptor then, surprising Shinji, jumped into the lake.

"Gah!" He gasped, running to the edge of the lake. "Oh!"

Burst! Riptor jumped out of the lake, with a large fish in its snout.

"Grr!" She growled, her claws holding another large fish.

Shinji was curious, but that stopped when Riptor started handing it over to him.

Gulp! She had swallowed the fish whole.

"Friend," she uttered, offering him the fish.

"Thank you, but I can't eat it like that," he told her. "I mean, I could, but I shouldn't. You go ahead and eat it."

Riptor looked at the fish, and then the ground and some of the trees…and got an idea.

"Grr," she growled and ran over to the trees.

Shinji saw her as she ripped some bark and branches off. Then, the she-beast made a small circle on the ground, gathered the bark into a pile, took a twig and started to rub it in between her claws.

_Is she__…__is she trying to build a fire?_ Shinji wondered.

A full minute later, Riptor had managed to create fire and jammed the fish into a branch, setting it to be roasted by the flames.

"Grr!" She pointed at her success.

"Eh-heh-heh," Shinji chuckled. "That's great. Thank you."

-x-

"So, they don't want to live together?" Ritsuko asked Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki as they walked through the halls on their way to Central Dogma.

"Ikari has, more or less, expressed no desire to be near his son," the elder explained, "nor does he wish to be near what he's convinced is a salvaged relic from Ultratech."

"Ultratech? That corporation's ancient history."

"But one of its experiments is far from ancient history. Project Riptor."

"And the Third Child seems to have obtained it, her, as a pet of sorts."

"According to Captain Katsuragi, he referred to the creature as his friend, which is higher than pet."

"Could he be persuaded into letting her be dissected as a research specimen?"

"You would probably get a negative response from him. He's, apparently, grown fond of her."

"But we don't even know if she can be controlled. We don't know if he'll even cooperate with NERV on an extended basis."

"I don't believe it's about control. It's more about acceptance and tolerance."

-x-

When word got out that a man-sized dinosaur was wandering Tokyo-3, not many people were comfortable with the fact that it was living with a kid that it seemed fond of. Some even had to wonder how something like this was possible, that a dinosaur could be around.

Unfortunately, Shinji, who resided in one of NERV's empty dorms with Riptor, didn't feel comfortable with being separated from the very creature that called him a friend.

"You can understand me, right?" Shinji asked her.

Riptor looked at him, and nodded in the positive.

"You're not a killer, are you? I mean, you don't eat people, right?"

She tilted her head to his right and slowly raised her claws up to hold his face.

Shinji was tense by this, but Riptor kept her talons away from his hair.

"No…kill," she uttered. "Not threatened. You not hurt. I no kill. Not necessary."

To be continued…

A/N: I bet it surprises you readers out there that Riptor in this story is capable of speech and is capable of understanding Shinji. What do you think will happen later?


	5. Ultratech's Ghosts

Creation began on 11-10-15

Creation ended on 11-11-15

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Ultratech's Ghosts

Through the use of the MAGI, Gendo had salvaged all records of Ultratech's projects from before Second Impact. This included Project Riptor, which explored the corporation's attempt to advance the military powers of the world, but not much on the medical powers.

_This genetic engineering research was years ahead of the Evangelion project,_ he thought, deciphering what he could about Project Riptor.

On his computer in his office, he discovered how Ultratech used the DNA of some of the finest athletes and soldiers at the time for the project's human aspects of their prototype Riptor…and the salvaged DNA of dinosaurs modified with the genetic sequences of present-day reptiles to fill in the gaps found. While the project had progressed faster than those of Project Fulgore and Project Spinal, it had been below one called Project Cinder. However, the scientists running the project felt that it was promising when they found a way to increase the prototype's brain mass, which amplified the creature's intelligence, allowing the original Riptor to be an adequate attempt at an assassin. Strength, speed, endurance, accelerated regeneration, claws that could cut through concrete and steel, a prehensile tail, enough stamina to keep it going for a week before the buildup of fatigue toxins could slow it down was what made the Riptor prototype such a potential to make Ultratech a greater powerhouse had they still been around.

Unfortunately, one of the problems the scientists had with the project was that the prototype suddenly began to do the one thing it hasn't been designed to do: It started acting without instruction, performing actions that went against its masters' intentions. And the last decision was made to halt the project.

_This could be the original Riptor that was made by Ultratech,_ Gendo thought, seeing the date on the digital pictures that was salvaged, and it was around the start of Nineties. _Yet, Second Impact killed a dozen species of reptile. How could this creature have managed to survive and remain hidden for so long without being seen?_

As he tried to wrap his head around the possibility of the creature that was currently residing with the Third Child being the same one made by Ultratech, he browsed through the salvaged files of Project Fulgore. It focused on creating cybernetic soldiers inspired by knights from the medieval periods, almost making it seem as though the Evas themselves were copied from this project since it utilized organics into the design, as well. Alongside this project was the one with a creature called Spinal, a regenerated, skeletal warrior, which seemed impossible to believe, as skeletons couldn't move on their own without nerves or muscles. But as he explored what Ultratech had been up to, one thing was for sure to Gendo: If Riptor was the only surviving project Ultratech had left in the aftermath of Second Impact, then the creature itself was practically worth a substantial sum as a bio-weapon…and it was being wasted as the Third Child's would-be pet.

To be continued…

A/N: Throughout the whole story's beginning, I left out another reptilian character that touched my heart. Old Lace from Marvel's _Runaways_. Thinking about her, I miss Gertrude Yokes. Also, should Shinji rename Riptor?


	6. The Beast's Day Out

Creation began on 11-17-15

Creation ended on 09-04-16

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Beast's Day Out

It disturbed NERV's majority personnel to no extent that they were playing host to a genetic amalgamation of reptilian and human DNA that was like some sort of…pet or companion to the Third Child. Many of the men and women were afraid of it further when it was suspected that it was a surviving relic from Ultratech's glory days, meaning it had been around since before Second Impact. But the boy was hardly afraid of her, willing to be in the same room with her, despite her dangerous appearance (and Shinji actually had the gall to say that she actually looked nice once you looked past her brutish exterior).

What was worse than usual for them was that Shinji did worse than keep her in the quarters he lived in within the base. He went and gave the creature a name that gave her individuality because Project Riptor wasn't a name. It was a designation.

"At least he's agreed to pilot the Eva until further notice," said Maya to Ritsuko one day as Shinji was in the Entry Plug undergoing testing.

"Yeah, but he keeps a creature that people would rather keep in a cage or research installation…and it was Ultratech property."

"If Yuki-Onna has any substantial value, Shinji's likely to disregard her scientific potential."

"What? Yuki-Onna?"

"That's what he calls her now."

"Snow Woman?"

"It has a symbolic meaning. 'Snow'…because he's never seen snow, and 'woman'…because the creature is mainly female."

"It's actually an hermaphroditic organism; it's both male and female."

"Some reptiles can spontaneously change sex, and this hybrid is one of them?"

"Like I said, Ultratech property. Those guys knew more than we do at the moment."

Within the plug, Shinji thought about Yuki-Onna. He originally tried other names with her, such as Sora, Miyuki, Aki and Sakuya, but Yuki-Onna couldn't agree with those as her name. So he tried to search the Internet for a suitable name…and ended up looking at an encyclopedic entry for the fabled yuki-onna or snow woman from the myths…and that was how this Project Riptor became Yuki-Onna.

_I may have blown whatever chance I had for a regular life,_ he thought, though that chance had been, more or less, taken the day his mother just up and died and his father abandoning him shortly after, _but I hope that Yuki-Onna stays close._

-x-

"…So far, sir, she hasn't left the Third Child's quarters," said a Section Two agent informed Gendo over the phone, standing watch outside the boy's quarters.

"Try to keep it there until the Third Child returns, then follow them if they go out," Gendo ordered him.

Unfortunately, the door to the boy's quarters opened…and Yuki-Onna stepped out, surprising the agent so much that he dropped his cell phone.

"Grr… Your breath stinks." Yuki-Onna told him, and stepped away, carrying the Third Child's backpack in her right arm.

The agent picked up his phone and informed Commander Ikari that the creature was now on the move with the Third Child's backpack.

-x-

"Ahhh…" Shinji yawned as he stepped out of the men's locker room and into the hallway. "I wonder what the school is supposed to be like."

"Aaah!" He then heard a woman scream, and saw one running up the hall towards him…and past him. "Aaah!"

Shinji saw Yuki-Onna with his backpack and deduced that the woman was running from her, despite the fact that she hadn't done anything to him.

"Hey, Yuki-Onna," he greeted her.

"Grr… Hello," she responded, and handed him his backpack.

"Thank you."

-x-

"…How long do you think before the city's emptied out of people because of his pet and not the Angels?" Hyuga asked Misato as they were watching the surveillance cameras of the empty streets of the city as the Third Child and Yuki-Onna were wandering around.

"Unlike the Angels, this creature isn't large enough to make people want to send an army or extermination squad," Misato sighed, "and doesn't have an agenda that involves human extinction or has any affiliation with the Angels."

"If this thing had a nose ring, it'd be just like Old Lace."

"Old Lace?"

"Comic book dinosaur."

On the monitors, the reptilian/human hybrid pointed upwards in front of a building beside Shinji…and then did the unexpected: She got under Shinji and started to climb up the side of the building, surprising said boy as he held on tight.

"Whoa!" Hyuga gasped.

"Okay, send in Section Two," Misato ordered; she didn't trust this crossbreed as far as she could stomach it, even if Shinji said she was a female.

-x-

Shinji was surprised by Yuki-Onna's idea to view the city from up on high, and almost threw up from being carried by her up the side of a building. It was quite spectacular, having her just do something that seemed completely unlike a creature that resembled a dinosaur. But he couldn't deny the sight was impressive. The city, while clearly a technological development, didn't seem so welcoming, but was at least nice to look at.

"Quite a beauty, isn't it, Yuki-Onna?" Shinji asked, sitting on the ledge with her.

"Beauty… Beautiful," she said back, and then patted his head. "Friend…think…beautiful…I?"

_She's asking if she's beautiful?_ Shinji realized. "Yes, Yuki-Onna… You are beautiful."

She removed her right claw from his head and placed it on his shoulder.

"Friend…beautiful…too," she told him.

"Uh… Thank you."

-x-

"…It looks like she just wanted to show him a good view of the city," went Shigeru on the bridge.

"It doesn't seem like this thing wants to hurt the boy at all," Maya added, zooming in on the recording of the boy and the crossbreed on the roof.

"…Friend…think…beautiful…I?" They heard the dinosaur say to Shinji.

"Yes, Yuki-Onna, you are beautiful," they heard him say back to her.

"Friend beautiful, too."

"Uh, thank you."

Misato turned to look at Ritsuko and asked, "That's a creepy conversation they're having about beauty, isn't it?"

"And the creature asked him," the faux-blond responded. "Strangest thing, this animal shouldn't be capable of speech. At least not with a snout. And the vocal cords should be incapable of basic speech, yet this thing is speaking."

"Well, given Ultratech's apparent mastery of genetic engineering, they probably didn't expect it to be able to talk." Shigeru expressed. "Or it could be adapting, evolving."

"Oh, come on!" Hyuga expressed, not at what Shigeru suggested, but at what Yuki-Onna just did with Shinji. "Thrill seeker!"

Yuki-Onna, with Shinji on her back like a rider and his horse, jumped off the building and into the air, free falling and landing on the roof of the building across the street from it.

Shinji, who seemed terrified of the stunt, held on for dear life, and looked like he couldn't believe that she just did that, and then continued to hold onto her back.

Yuki-Onna then ran and jumped off onto the next roof that led down to the streets.

"If only this creature were dead," went Ritsuko, being scientific, "we could understand how its brain and nervous system work."

"You didn't want to study her piss, and now you're interested in studying her?" Misato asked.

-x-

Shinji was frightened at first by Yuki-Onna's method of getting off the building rooftop, but he wouldn't deny it was only at first. The travel to the ground was fast and unlike an elevator. A breeze in your face, behind your back, the world beneath your feet as they dangled from one building top to another.

Yuki-Onna seemed to know exactly what she was doing, where she needed to dig her claws into, which building to jump to, how fast she needed to move and so on.

-x-

"…These are other files salvaged from Ultratech?" Ritsuko questioned Gendo, who showed her folders of other projects the old corporation had been working on before Second Impact. "Project Fulgore? Project Spinal? Project Cinder?"

"If you can, see if anything of what was done in Projects Fulgore and Spinal can be introduced to the Eva program," he ordered her. "Also, we may need to study this Project Riptor more thoroughly in order to discover what the creature is capable of, as it is an unstable factor we may have to deal with later .on "

Fuyutsuki, who was in the office with them, however, was having doubts that NERV should try and pick up where Ultratech left off when they went out of business, even if it was to improve their Evas or add more security to their personnel forces.

"Ikari, this may not be the right choice," he expressed his opinion on the subject.

"We need to be ready for any other unexpected encounters like this crossbreed that the Third Child has become attached to," Gendo declared, unconcerned with any ethical issues regarding what they already did in NERV.

"You think this relic of Project Riptor would harm him?"

"It hasn't so far…but that doesn't mean that it won't at a later time. Certain predators will manipulate their prey."

_Somehow, it doesn't seem like the creature is manipulating your son._

-x-

"…Grr…" Shinji heard Yuki-Onna groaned as he saw her looking at a series of framed photos on display in a picture shop, pressing her head against the glass.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, noticing the pictures were of tranquil settings with people (probably families, even) on friendly outings.

Yuki-Onna thought of her past before she met Shinji, back when she was around men and women in white, like the woman they saw here underground. Before they ever met, she didn't think of the time where she was bred to be a weapon of some sort for whoever made it possible for her to exist. But there were these moments, flashes or instantaneous recalls where she saw people she never saw, heard things she never heard…and said things she never said before. It didn't make sense to her back then…and it still didn't make any sense to her now, knowing bits and pieces of things or places she was never supposed to know…and then trying to speak when it had been impossible in the initial attempts.

"Yuki-Onna?" Shinji asked her again, but she didn't respond. "Yuki?"

"It…hurts…thinking…" She uttered, raising her claws against the glass. "Mem…memories."

"Memories? You mean…it hurts to think about memories?"

"Memories…not mine."

_Not yours? Memories that aren't yours? What are you talking about?_

"Faces…never seen… Voices…never heard… Things…never did…" She continued.

_Faces, voices…and things never done? Maybe it's something to do with her past._

He reached out to her head and she looked at him.

She removed her left claw from the glass and placed it on his shoulder.

"Let's get outta here," he suggested.

To be continued…

A/N: I don't know when the next chapter will be posted, but you get a glimpse at Riptor/Yuki-Onna's inherited genetic memories from the human DNA in her hybrid makeup.


End file.
